EARNCon 2026
Registration is Open!
3-day full conference tickets are now available at our general registration rate until August 31st.
EARNCon 2026
September 30-October 2, 2026
Washington, D.C.
Annually hosted by EPI’s Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) and Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy (PREE), EARNCon brings together a rich community of researchers, policy advocates, labor leaders, and grassroots organizers committed to a worker-centered research and policy agenda that advances racial, gender, and economic justice at the state and local level.
EARNCon 2026 Agenda
This agenda is tentative. Session titles and times are subject to change.
Wednesday, September 30
- 12:00 – 6:00 PM: Registration
- 12:30 – 3:30 PM: Organizing Bootcamp: Building Power Outside the Statehouse and City Halls: How organizing can boost your advocacy game
- 12:30 – 3:30 PM: EARN Executive Directors Meeting
- 12:30 – 3:30 PM: Data Bootcamp: State of Working X Bootcamp
- 4:00 – 5:30 PM: Opening Plenary Session: Welcome to the DMV
Thursday, October 1
- 8:30 – 9:15 AM: Breakfast
- 9:15 – 10:15 AM: EPI Morning Plenary Session
- 10:30 – 11:45 AM: Workshop Sessions
- The Impact of Technology on Labor Market Outcomes: It’s about power
- Racial Justice and Worker Power in the Climate Transition
- PREE: The State of Women’s Work: Policy choices, power, and participation
- Reimagining Economic Development: Building equity and healthier communities through public investment
- Understanding the Power of Storytelling: How it can make or break your campaign
- 12:00 – 12:30 PM: Lunch
- 12:30 – 1:30 PM: EPI Afternoon Plenary Session
- 1:45 – 3:00 PM: Workshop Sessions
- A Strong Public Sector is Needed for Broadly-Shared Prosperity
- PREE: State and Local Remedies for Reclaiming Public Health Insurance
- Reworking the South: Uprooting broken systems for workers in the South
- Building Worker Power in All 50 States
- 3:15 – 4:30 PM: Roundtable Conversations
- 5:30 PM: EPI 40th Anniversary Reception
Friday, October 2
- 8:00 – 9:15 AM: Breakfast
- 9:15 – 10:30 AM: Workshop Sessions
- PREE: States don’t have to choose between economic security and racial equity
- Child Care Is a Public Good: Building power for and with the child care workforce
- New Frontiers in the Fight for Public Education
- Fighting Fascism with Numbers: Using research to combat ICE terror and advance immigrant justice
- 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM: Workshop Sessions
- Strategies for Centering Black Children and Families in Our Work: Lessons from the ECOSYS project
- Advancing Progressive Workforce Development: Case studies with a record of success
- Tax the Rich, Invest in Communities: A movement spreading across America
- Boom, Backlash, Bargaining Chip? How advocates can evaluate and leverage data center deals
- 12:15 – 12:45 PM: Lunch
- 12:45 – 2:00 PM: Closing Plenary Session: Counting Every Voice: Advancing racial, gender, and economic justice through data collection
About This Year’s Conference
EARNCon 2026 will bring state and local movement leaders together in the nation’s capital at a moment when our country is marking its 250th anniversary but its core values and institutions are in deep crisis. This year’s conference will celebrate our conviction that the country will never achieve the highest ideals of its founding until we truly center people, equity, and collective action.
Together, we will affirm our collective commitment to racial and gender equity, economic justice, and democracy, while sharpening state policy and organizing strategies that deliver an economy that works for all. With discussions on topics such as strengthening unions and workplace protections, building and sustaining robust public programs that safeguard economic security, and how community-labor organizing can drive local policy change, EARNCon 2026 will be a place to learn, inspire, and unite against current threats while—from the ground up—setting a clear course towards a more perfect union.
Celebrating EPI at 40
During EARNCon 2026, we are celebrating Economic Policy Institute’s 40 years as the working people’s think tank. Thursday, October 1st will include workshops and two plenaries followed by a reception reflecting four decades of the cutting-edge research centering the lives of working people.
Your purchase of a 3-day EARNCon ticket or a Thursday-only ticket includes all EPI40 sessions and the evening event. If you would like to purchase a ticket to the EPI40 reception only, please visit the EPI40 Reception information page.
Hotel Information
Already registered? Don’t forget to reserve a room at the conference hotel. Reservations for the Mayflower Hotel can be made until September 8th (or until the room block is full): Book Here!
EARN Member Organizations
Executive Directors should have received specific EARN Group registration information. Please reach out if your team has not received it.
Questions?
If you have any questions please email [email protected].
Cancellation / Refund Policy: Cancellation and refund requests may be made by reaching out to [email protected]. Refund requests received on or before August 31, 2026, are eligible for a refund, minus applicable processing fees.
Help build the foundation to win state and local policies that advance racial, economic, and gender justice – become an EARNCon sponsor today! Learn more
With thanks to our generous sponsors
